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In [294], Salber and Coutaz describe the application of the
Wizard of Oz technique (WOz) to multimodal systems. The basic idea of a WOz
system is the modeling of a system or system behavior which is not yet or
only partly available by a human (the hidden ``wizard'') and to hide this
fact from the user. By analyzing the performed operations, the user's needs
can be identified in advance which may lead to a better design of the final
system.
This idea is especially interesting for the design of multimodal systems
because at the moment the understanding of how to design such a system is
very limited. Therefore, the authors argue that the WOz technique is an
appropriate approach to the identification of sound design solutions. The
whole article can not be reviewed here in depth, but the requirements from
the wizard's perspective as well as those from the system perspective shall
be mentioned:
- Requirements from the wizard's perspective:
- Task complexity: In a multimodal system, the wizard must
simulate more complex functions such as the synergistic combination of
modalities than in a traditional system.
- Information bandwidth: Due to the chance of using more than
one modality for user input, the input processing bandwidth of a
multimodal system will exceed that of a traditional system.
- Multiwizard configuration: One way to overcome the two
problems mentioned above may be to use more than one wizard.
- Requirements from the system perspective:
- Performance: The system has to provide the effective
foundations for efficiency.
- Configuration flexibility: In a multiwizard, multimodal
system, one has to deal with `a variable number of wizards as well as
the variety of input and output devices.
- Communication protocol flexibility: This is a critical
aspect because i) multiple wizards may be engaged and ii) information
exchange over the communication channels may be on any level of
abstraction.
In addition, powerful tools for the analysis and the evaluation of the
observed data are necessary in order to successfully apply the Wizard of Oz
technique to a multimodal system. This has been identified to be one of the
major weak points during the tests performed by Salber and Coutaz. Their
second result is that ``the organization of the wizards' work requires a
lot of testing and experiments; [...]''. Nevertheless, the WOz technique
could be an appropriate solution in when the integration of
software packages won't be possible due to missing pieces.
Next: Input/Output Coupling
Up: Architectures and
Interaction
Previous: Intelligent user interfaces
Esprit Project 8579/MIAMI (Schomaker et al., '95)
Thu May 18 16:00:17 MET DST 1995